Citi Turns 200: Head office is knowledge hub

May 04, 2012 09:00 AM

In celebration of Citigroup's 200th Anniversary, we are sharing stories from our rich history here on this blog. The seventh installation below covers how the bank presidents set about improving staff education levels. Read the sixth installment on how we expanded abroad by opening a foreign exchange department, here.

Head office is knowledge hub

Improving staff educational levels was a priority for National City Bank. In this respect it was among the most progressive banks of the time. Courses were organized through the City Bank Club (see p. 83), set up with a $10,000 grant from president James Stillman in 1904.

Initial lectures, papers, and competitions led to more formal courses on technical banking and bond arithmetic. In 1910, about 30 department heads and prominent clerks started gathering on Tuesday evenings to share information about the activities of the various departments.

It was around this time that about 50 employees began a two-year course at the new Alexander Hamilton Institute of the New York University School of Commerce. With growing interest in business opportunities in Latin America, the bank then secured a Spanish-language professor to hold classes twice a week.

To mark the bank's centenary in 1912, Stillman offered a grant of $100,000, which allowed a broader curriculum to be developed, which was offered free of charge to all members of the City Bank Club. Instructors were hired to teach subjects including business English, mathematics, economics, Spanish, German, penmanship, stenography, and foreign exchange. In addition, a Yale Law School professor started delivering weekly lectures in commercial law.

A key development came in 1914 with the inauguration of practical banking classes covering all aspects of the bank's work and the principles of banking, law, and economics. Fifty-six men took part in the three-month course on Tuesday evenings and Friday mornings. Attendance was compulsory. Graduates attended a more advanced course on subjects such as notes and bills of exchange, foreign exchange, loans, credits, and letters of credit.

In 1915, president Frank Vanderlip ordered that from then on, all male employees under 21 would have to spend at least two hours a week studying office practice plus a second subject. The second subject could be chosen from English, arithmetic, stenography, commercial geography, Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

In a letter to all staff on August 24, 1915, Vanderlip strongly urged males over 21 and all females "to take up as much educational work as they possibly can with convenience and justice to themselves and their employment." Three types of practical banking classes were now offered, along with a new class in political economy.

Of the 16 teachers engaged by the bank in 1916, 12 were full-time employees. The number of people enrolled in various courses was around 600, with about a third studying two subjects and others as many as six or seven. The most popular courses were banking, English, arithmetic, Spanish, and commercial geography.